News Of Golden Girl Rue McClanahan’s Death Has Gone Viral Again, And The Girls Live On (VIDEOS)

First, let’s just set the record straight. Despite what your friends are sharing, Rue McClanahan died five years ago when she was 76 years old. On June 3, 2010, the Golden Girls co-star who played our favorite promiscuous Southern belle died after suffering a massive stroke. However, news of her death has gone viral several times since – including this year.

‘Golden Girls’ aimed to show ‘that when people mature, they add layers,’ she told The New York Times in 1985. ‘They don’t turn into other creatures. The truth is we all still have our child, our adolescent, and your young woman living in us.

The show did a lot more than that. Taking on social issues of the time, that we are still talking about today, the “girls” addressed things like gay marriage, racism, AIDS, and more. By bringing those things into mainstream America’s living rooms on Saturday nights – they opened up a dialogue that was certainly progressive in nature.

The show ran from 1985 to 1992 on NBC. In that time, they produced award-winning episodes that pulled back the curtain on many things we needed to be talking about – and still do.

In honor of our beloved Blanche, Dorothy, Rose and Sophia, here are a few of their most trailblazing clips.

They struggled with marriage equality – only to see the light.

https://youtu.be/2xxpd3Ye0zA

They worried about AIDS.

The girls bought condoms.

https://youtu.be/gyhlnL0AbmI

Healthcare was an issue then, too.

There was Sophia’s struggle after her son, Phil, died.

Then there was the time Blanche thought Danny Thomas was a lesbian.

They touched our hearts and they taught us that the youthfulness of those with few years can carry over into the golden ones.

First we lost Sophia in 2008, then Dorothy in 2009, followed by Blanch in 2010. Rose once asked: